


The Universe is Indifferent

by blue_veins



Category: Rusty Quill RPF
Genre: Horror, M/M, but kind of there, eldritch horror, fun with formatting, mostly about the horror, not very shippy, thalassophobia, this was bound to happen at some point, unknown creature - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:07:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27597304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blue_veins/pseuds/blue_veins
Summary: Alex strays into deep waters, and finds something he doesn't expect, but always feared.
Relationships: Ben Meredith/Alexander J. Newall
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	The Universe is Indifferent

**Author's Note:**

> me, finds out from listening to random patreon content that Alex is both freaked out by tentacles and has thalassophobia: time to write some horror!  
> also me: figures, halloween was 2 weeks ago  
> felineladyy: horror is Year Round  
> me: shit you right!
> 
> Title is from a Thom Yorke Suspiria song. The whole album was perfect to listen to while writing this.

Alex had always been a strong swimmer, enjoyed it even. When he could see the bottom of whatever pool, lake, etc he was swimming in. It was when that **depth** stretched out, and became bottomless, and unknowable that would set his heart racing. When he suddenly couldn’t see what was below him, couldn’t tell what was underneath all that water, what could be _hiding_ in that water, that made his blood run cold. What could be lurking in those murky **depths** , waiting for 

that 

perfect reach up

moment to and pull him 

down 

and down 

and down 

and down.

  
  


His first thought was, when he felt that slippery slide against his ankle, was that it was just a piece of seaweed, or algae, or other plantlife, brushing against his skin; unpleasant, but bearable. Right up until he realized it wasn’t. It was something long, and slimy, but strong and sticky, able to grip tight and not let go no matter how hard he struggled. 

By then it was too late. 

The problem with being out in open water? There was nothing to grasp; nothing to hold onto, to arrest the descent into the dark. Nothing to do but watch as the point of light above him started to disappear. Alex thought that would start to make things feel smaller, closed in, compacted; unable to see anything further than a foot in front of his face. But it didn’t. It only felt larger for it. The dark spread out all around him, farther than he could ever imagine. 

The grip around his ankle tightened, hand, claw, tentacle, or whatever it was, adjusting for a better grip, moving up his calf, making sure Alex couldn’t wriggle out of it’s grasp as he attempted to fight against the pull into **depths**. 

What was pulling him? How far could he still go? How had he not run out of breath? Why was he not being crushed by the weight of the entire ocean being pressed down on him? All questions that flit through his head, as unknown, and unanswerable as the **depths** of the ocean themselves. 

Alex felt something more than saw it, a change in the water, a vibration, a tremor running through him. He couldn’t claim he saw whatever it was beneath him, but he sensed it; something so large and Vast and _old_. Something of such size, and age that Alex couldn’t even begin to fathom.

Something that was still pulling him towards it with increasing speed. 

  
  
  


_Faster_

  
  
  


D e e p e r

  
  
  


Into the very heart of the earth.

What did it want with him? How could it possibly even know of his presence? Alex was a speck, a blip, how was it not utterly indifferent to his existence. Whatever it was he knew it wasn’t good. He redoubled his efforts to escape, even though he knew it was futile. Arms stretched up to a surface he knew was out of reach, screaming the air out of his lungs in the hope that maybe if he passed out first he would never have to know the horror of what it was that captured him. 

Alex’s hand brushed something solid in its flailing grasp. He swung his other hand back to get a better hold of whatever it was. It didn’t matter what it was, as long as it wasn’t this. Anything. Anything was better than this. 

His grip held. As did whatever had reached out for him, and _pulled_. 

For a brief moment Alex felt like he was being ripped in half. Two opposing forces attempting to pull him asunder. 

The next moment he was hauled over the side of a boat, coughing and retching. He spun around just in time to see a ripple along the surface of the water before it disappeared. There were hands on his shoulders steadying him, keeping him from falling back, and an intensely worried looking Ben kneeling in front of him. 

“ _Jesus christ_. Thought we lost you for a second there. Are you okay? What happened?” 

Alex was still looking around wildly, heart beating out of his chest, lungs burning as he attempted to get his breathing under control. 

“I-I don’t… I don’t know.” Even Alex could hear how shaken his voice was. He was grateful when Ben didn’t press for an answer, and just wrapped him in a hug. He opened his eyes after a moment, and saw his own leg past Ben’s shoulder. There was a deep red mark - similar in appearance to a burn - that wrapped around his ankle and calf. Alex shuddered in Ben’s grasp, and curled tight against him, tucking his face against his shoulder. If Alex knew one thing for sure, besides how thankful he was for Ben, was that he wasn’t going out into deep waters ever again.


End file.
